MFG.com Updates Online Sourcing Capabilities

Nov. 20, 2009
Global platform revisions include language, currency, sorting, security

MFG.com has updated its online platform to make it more functional for a wider range of international users. The improvements cover a range of functions, from creating RFQs to supplier selection, and the developers contend the improvements make it possible for manufacturers and suppliers to bring products to market faster “and at higher levels of quality and profitability.”

“This is a big step in our roadmap to provide competitive advantages to our customers in the highly fragmented manufacturing industry,” claimed the site’s founder and CEO Mitch Free. He indicated the improvements were made in response to customers needs and interests.

Among the new features, the 10-year-old site now offers multiple language options (Spanish, German, French, Italian and Portuguese, in addition to English) and more than 50 currencies, including the U.S. dollar, Euro, British pound, Chinese RMB, Japanese yen, Indian rupee, Brazilian real and Russian ruble.

Also, it now presents multiple-line request-for-quote functions (RFQs), so items from a single manufacturing category may be grouped into a single request and allow the seeker to receive “seamless” quotes.

Another MFG.com improvement is that it allows buyers to manage part and style libraries from a central site, and to build a parts or styles database with “flexible hierarchies,” including an existing bill-of-materials structure. It organizes buyers’ orders within a “project-tracking dashboard,” and enhances messaging, for example, by collecting messages in a single secure location independent from the message source.

MFG.com was established 10 years ago and claims over 200,000 members on five continents. It is a combination of real-time, one-to-many communications with sourcing and collaboration tools meant to improve business decision-making.